All Webinars

Premature termination is a significant problem in psychotherapy, with deleterious impacts on both clients and therapists. For example, research shows that clients who prematurely terminate show poorer treatment outcomes, are less likely to make lasting changes in their symptoms, and are more likely to over-utilize the health care system. Research also shows that when clients end treatment prematurely, their therapists often experience a sense of failure with the loss. Additionally, repeated dropout by clients can lead to experiences of demoralization and burnout in their providers. Current estimates indicate that approximately 1 in 5 clients will drop out of psychotherapy and/or counseling prematurely. Although these numbers may differ depending on the setting and client type, almost all therapists will experience premature termination at some point in their practice. 

The purpose of this workshop is provide strategies and approaches that therapists can use to reduce premature termination in their practice. This workshop will begin with a discussion of what premature termination is and why some clients choose to end treatment prematurely. It will then cover the latest research on the frequency of premature termination and client, therapist, treatment, and setting risk factors associated with its occurrence. In the second half of this workshop, eight evidence-based strategies for reducing premature termination will be presented. These strategies include: providing role induction, incorporating preferences into the treatment decision-making process, planning for appropriate termination, providing education about patterns of change in psychotherapy, strengthening hope, enhancing motivation for treatment, fostering the therapeutic alliance, and assessing and discussing treatment progress.

The incidence of youth suicide requires that schools and communities collaborate and increase suicide prevention efforts and that they be prepared to respond if a suicide occurs in order to reduce suicide contagion.  This presentation will help school and community mental health personnel increase their understanding of the most common factors in youth suicide.  Participants will learn effective strategies to prevent youth suicide and lessons from the aftermath of numerous suicides.

“I really enjoyed the expertise of the presenter. He had so much useful knowledge to share. The case studies really went deeper into my personal knowledge and helped me to process and analyze situations differently.”-Kristie C., Social Worker, New York

It is essential that that schools and communities know the incidence of school violence and be up to date on the best safety and prevention practices. This presentation will review numerous state and national initiatives that have focused on school safety and the recommendations from a variety of foundations started by parents who lost their in tragic school shootings. Many school shooters died by suicide and this presentation will outline the major theory of murder suicide. The presenter has a wealth of practical experience responding to school crises and participants, whether they are parents, school personnel or community members will learn many lessons from school tragedies and practical strategies to prevent future school violence.

“The information presented was very helpful and I feel I have a better understanding of the role of forensic psychologist and how this role differs from the psychotherapist role."-Meg R. Professional Counselor, South Carolina

This webinar will satisfy your ethics requirement.

All mental health professionals are familiar with, and should rely on, the Codes of Ethics applicable to their professionals. Some have, in addition, specialty guidelines that apply to certain areas of practice. This webinar will consist of a detailed analysis of the Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology, viewing the similarities to and differences from the generic ethics codes. More specifically, we will look at the definitions of forensic psychology practice, issues of impartiality, conflicts of interest, competence, Informed Consent, and conflicts with legal authorities.

This webinar will satisfy your ethics requirement.

Ever since 1976 with the landmark case of Tarasoff versus Regents of the University of California, there has been a dizzying array of cases dealing with various approaches to this topic. In some states, there is a Duty to Warn, in others a Duty to Protect Third Parties. In some states, the duty is mandatory and in others discretionary. Some states are also distinguished in terms of permissive or non-permissive duties. Small wonder that with all these variations, mental health professionals are often confused in terms of their obligations. Sometimes, the case law is inconsistent with the statutes within the same state. Research done regarding the knowledge of licensed men¬tal health professionals in 1988 showed that 93% of the sample surveyed did not fully understand the laws in their own states. Twenty years later, with continued exposure to the topic through continuing education, the number dropped to 76% who did not understand the laws in their own states. This webinar will attempt to reconcile these differences and provide the mental health professional with concrete steps to take in order to crystalize and under¬stand the laws and the ways to manage practices so as to minimize the risk of legal action.

"Excellent content - very knowledgeable and experienced presenter Greater understanding of instruments - research on just how limited our ability to predict violence is, and the ethical/scientific issues with sex violent predator laws/dynamics."-Kevin D., Psychologist, California

The ability to predict  future violent behavior has long been an issue for mental health professionals.  Initially it was merely assumed that we could make such predictions accurately based on our clinical skills alone.  Many decisions in the judicial system hinge on an accurate assessment of violence, such as  bond, probation, and parole decisions, committment to and release from psychiatric facilities, and even whether or not a defendant should be sentenced to death.

Recent research has demonstrated however that such predictions are not as accurate as once assumed and that the methodology used was sadly lacking in  validity.   A tremendous amount of research has gone into risk assessment for future  violence ; still,,  the accuracy remains in question even to this day; nevertheless, judicial decisions are continually made which ignore our limited ability to assess violent behavior.

This webinar will explore  the factors necessary to do competent work in this area and demonstrate the ways that risk assessment can become more precise.

“Shapiro is SO knowledgeable! I learned about many cases considered at supreme court level, the whys and why nots of their rulings and how the rulings impact those with mental health issues and those that work with them .”-Ruth R., Psychologist, Indiana

This webinar will satisfy your ethics requirement.

Mental health professionals frequently make assertions about legal issues based on their psychological expertise and expect that the laws should merely follow the re­search and practice to which they testify. Frequently, mental health professionals will conflate such matters as psychosis, limited intellect or brain impairment with le­gal issues such as Competency to Stand Trial, Criminal Responsibility and Mitigation. There are, in fact, many reasons why a diagnosis cannot be generalized into a legal conclusion. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the United States Supreme Court deliberations and findings where behavioral science evidence is judged along side the laws which place constraints on how these matters can be considered in court. This webinar will explore these dif­ferences, looking at a wide array of cases in which mental health has been a central issue.

This webinar will satisfy your ethics requirement.

Mental health professionals are affected by the fact that we live in an age of litigation; if  clients are dissatisfied with the outcome of an evaluation or treatment , they may file an ethics complaint or a law suit with increased frequency compared to  the past. Malpractice insurance premiums have increased by more than a factor of 10 over the past few decades.  As a result, many practitioners are “running scared”, fearful of complaints.  In point of fact, very few of these legal actions are successful; while going through them is unpleasant, if a mental health practitioner adheres to a few basic principles of risk management, the likelihood of a successful suit is vastly diminished.  This webinar will present these basic principles within a framework of the fundamental legal concepts involved,and how these concepts may be easily incorporated into practice guidelines.  Special attention will be paid to confidentiality and privilege, the nature of malpractice claims,informed consent, documentation, consultation,the most frequent areas of litigation, and concrete steps to take to minimize the risk of litigation.

This webinar will satisfy your ethics requirement.

Mental health professionals are affected by the fact that we live in an age of litigation; if  clients are dissatisfied with the outcome of an evaluation or treatment , they may file an ethics complaint or a law suit with increased frequency compared to  the past. Malpractice insurance premiums have increased by more than a factor of 10 over the past few decades.  As a result, many practitioners are “running scared”, fearful of complaints.  In point of fact, very few of these legal actions are successful; while going through them is unpleasant, if a mental health practitioner adheres to a few basic principles of risk management, the likelihood of a successful suit is vastly diminished.  This webinar will present these basic principles within a framework of the fundamental legal concepts involved,and how these concepts may be easily incorporated into practice guidelines.  Special attention will be paid to confidentiality and privilege, the nature of malpractice claims,informed consent, documentation, consultation,the most frequent areas of litigation, and concrete steps to take to minimize the risk of litigation.

The manner in which mental illness has been dealt with in the criminal justice system especially regarding capital punishment has been described as “the shame of the states. “However the death penalty is not the only area in which we see misuse of psychological theories and research. We see this frequently in such areas as competency to stand trial, the insanity defense, involuntary medication, and failure to recognize the impacts of traumatic brain injury on cognitive functioning.Many of these areas are totally ignored in the law due to two forces: sanism and pretextuality.Sanism represents a bias against mentally ill individuals much like racial or gender bias.  Pretextualism refers to performing some forensic function in a careless or slipshod manner, but presenting it to the court in a manner suggesting that it is scientifically valid.

The manner in which mental illness has been dealt with in the criminal justice system especially regarding capital punishment has been described as “the shame of the states. “However the death penalty is not the only area in which we see misuse of psychological theories and research. We see this frequently in such areas as competency to stand trial, the insanity defense, involuntary medication, and failure to recognize the impacts of traumatic brain injury on cognitive functioning.Many of these areas are totally ignored in the law due to two forces: sanism and pretextuality.Sanism represents a bias against mentally ill individuals much like racial or gender bias.  Pretextualism refers to performing some forensic function in a careless or slipshod manner, but presenting it to the court in a manner suggesting that it is scientifically valid.